Genma's Birthday
by Trickett
Summary: Genma's Birthday! It's today! Whoop! Takes place during the Third Great Shinobi War. I did take some liberties and this follows with a longer storyline I haven't posted yet. But wanted to give Genma a birthday shout out. Disclaimer; I own nothing but the OC.


"Happy birthday to me." Genma sighed, his chin rested on his folded arms, small wisps trailing around the house, lighting up the empty rooms and halls. A few had collected around Genma, dancing idly by the newly promoted Chūnin's head. He had made a small dinner for himself, but couldn't find the will to eat.

He was alone. Mother and Arcturus were dead, and his father was forever locked away at the Blood Prison. Genma glared at the small bowl of broth, looking around the house from the table and struggling to remember every last positive memory he had made in this house when his mother and brother were still alive and his father hadn't gone so insane.

Arcturus and mother teaching him to use the wisps, father showing him how to use senbons and kunai, Arcturus and Genma pulling pranks on their parents and the field workers.

"Shit." Genma buried his face into his arms as he felt tears burn down his cheeks, his fists clenching as he bit his lip and tried to stop the tears.

But he couldn't. He missed his mother, his brother, and despite what his father had become, he missed who he used to be. He missed his family. And instead, he remained alone in a house that used to be a home.

_Knock knock…_

The two faint knocks pulled Genma from his thoughts and he stared at the door, the field leader, Ido, likely. The old man made a habit of letting Genma know when they were leaving for the day and to check on him. "Have a good day, master Ido, thank you."

One more knock caused Genma to quirk up a brow and focus in, it wasn't Ido. That chakra belonged to Hiten.

_No option but to open the door now._

Genma wiped away the fallen tears and took a deep breath in, "One second, sorry, Hiten. I thought you were someone else." He made for the door, hesitating at the knob for a moment before opening the door.

Bright golden eyes, deep burgundy curls and a warm smile greeted him, Hovik, her falcon perched on her shoulder, stared off towards what was likely a field mouse in his sights, but the bird didn't leave her. Her hands, her only form of communication were hidden behind her back. "Hey, uh-, hey, Hiten. What brings you all the way out here?"

The small kunoichi presented two small boxes to him, one stacked on the other and carefully wrapped together with a ribbon. Genma took the offered gifts and gave Hiten her voice back. Her hands carefully moving, "I didn't want you to be alone for your birthday."

"O-oh?" He felt a small blush rise on his cheeks and smile form. "Thank you, Hiten." She gave Genma a soft smile that melted him down to the core. She nodded and poked at the top box, and he remembered his manners. Stepping aside from the door, Genma welcomed her in.

"Oh! I didn't mean to interrupt your lunch." She noted, pointing toward the now cold bowl of broth on the table.

"You didn't, I'm actually really glad you're here." The two sat down in the hearth, Hovik finding his new resting post on a counter, Genma gently placed the two boxes on the table and looked at Hiten she poked at the box again and Genma laughed, "ok, ok." As he unwrapped the ribbon, Hiten stood up and left for the kitchen, he heard her put on the kettle. He opened the box to find two sets of dangos neatly packaged from the shop downtown. He put the box aside carefully not to damage the tasty treats and looked at the next box, it was more rectangular in shape and thin. There was significantly more care put into the wrapping and it was signed from Hiten and the Third Hokage.

Something about that made Genma nervous about opening it, he stared at the present for much longer than he expected, Hiten breaking his trance with a gentle touch on his shoulder. She carefully placed the small tray with two cups of hot tea next to the dangos and settled next to him. "Open it!" She pointed towards the box and nodded to him. He carefully cut the packaging open and slid open the box, inside looked to be three wrapped frames. He picked up the first and carefully removed the paper, caramel eyes met with matching ones as he stared back at a photo of his mother, he felt his breathing catch as he looked over every detail of the photo.

Genma had taken on every single trait of his mother, while Arcturus had taken on much from their father. Both of the boys had the Shiranui family jutsu, and as such had taken the Shiranui name. Something their father had quietly despised for many years.

Her smile was what Genma missed the most and to see it now, even in a photo, the shinobi could do nothing but smile back. "Hiten… How'd you get this?" Even he didn't have any photos of his mother. Not anymore.

"The Third Hokage!" She smiled at him, her hands folding together as she finished. Genma carefully placed the frame down and wrapped his arms tightly around Hiten, burying his face into her neck and holding her close.

"Thank you." Lithe arms wrapped around him, much gentler than his hold on her, she rested her cheek on his head and the two remained like this as Genma recollected himself. "Thank you, truly thank you… I…" Genma pulled away from her and she fidgeted with her hands for a moment before she began to make some sense.

"The only thing I wanted when searching through my village was to find a photo of my family. Just one. I wanted just one photo of my mom, dad, and brother's smiling back at me, to remember them like that. Not as the corpses I had to identify." She paused and smiled at the photo then back to Genma, "When the Hokage told me you didn't have any pictures of your mother… I… I couldn't… couldn't…" she fumbled with her hands and sighed, a soft "fff" coming past her lips, one of the few sounds she could make without a normal larynx, "They only had her official registration photos… so, we went to everyone who had ever known your mother until we found a photo of her smiling."

Genma stared at her in disbelief, things had been so chaotic with the war, she had made time to comb through Konoha for one photo to give to him. "Thank you… I…" she put a finger to his lips and kissed his cheek. He felt his cheeks burn up a little. Hiten pulled her finger away from his lips and pointed toward the other two wrapped frames. He had completely forgotten about them, the first photo had left him stunned in all the best ways to say the very least.

He picked up the next one, unwrapping the paper and laughed. It was a photo of Aoba, Rin, Hiten and Hovik, Raidoū, and Genma when they were genin. The five of them (plus Hovik) had gotten into a mess of trouble chasing an old story passed around the Academy about a monster ghost in the art district. It had been a prank meant to be pulled on Genma and Aoba, but the two of them had roped Rin, Hiten, and Raidoū into it.

The photo was of the five of them, they were covered in paint and feathers running out of an abandoned warehouse, Aoba the furthest back, nearly in tears, Hovik hiding in Genma's jacket he'd given to Hiten, Hiten and Genma side-by-side, Rin and Raidoū in front, all of them screaming as their Academy teacher, the Third, Arcturus, and Aoba's sister were waiting, camera at the ready.

Genma spotted a detail he hadn't remembered before, he had Hiten's hand tightly in his grasp and a wisp on her shoulder. He didn't remember having summoned a wisp to protect her, or grabbing her hand but right there in the photo, a small wisp hovered, barely visible, on her shoulder. He didn't remember doing these things, but the proof was there.

As the genin team was running for their lives from what they thought was a monster ghost (but was actually just Minato and Kushina in a well crafted disguise), he had made sure she was protected and didn't get far from him.

It was a fond memory, one that he definitely cherished. Along with those hilarious faces they were all making while covered in debris. They looked ridiculous.

"The Third finally forked over the blackmail?"

"He has the original. This is a copy." She giggled, her laugh was a cascade of soft "Sss." sounds that rang together.

"So, Mission "Humiliation Recovery" is still on." He stroked his chin and Hiten continued to giggle with a nod.

He turned his attention now to the third and final frame, he removed the paper as the others but found nothing. Just an empty frame. He quirked up a brow and then looked at Hiten.

She smiled and began to collect her words, "An empty one, because you still have so much left to do, see, and experience, and something will be worth capturing and remembering forever."

"I really like it. I love it. Thank you." Hiten took the empty frame from him and replaced it with dango.

"Just promise me." She started, "Promise me you won't hide away and shut out the world. I know what it's like… to be alone… but I have Konoha now, my team, my friends, I have you and Hovik… Konoha is my family now. I'm not alone. Not anymore. And you aren't alone either." She gently grasped his hand once she finished and gave it a gentle squeeze.

There was a rapid knock on the door and a cluster of heads poked in before waiting for a response. Raidoū, Gai, Aoba, Obito, Rin, Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Hayate, Ibiki, Anko, Tokara, Ebisu, everyone. The Third and Ido both stood by the door and nodded to the young man. His friends all piled into his home, an echo of "Happy Birthday, Genma!" rang through the home from everyone inside.

The young Shiranui looked over his sea of friends, and then looked down, the photo of his mother smiling back at him, he noticed Hiten still holding his and he smiled at her.

_Konoha is my family. This is my family. _


End file.
